The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant, botanically known as Verbena.times.hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Balwilblu.
The new Verbena is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Somerville, Tenn. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new cultivars with a mounded decumbent plant habit, continuous flowering, freely-branching growth habit, and attractive flower and foliage colors.
The new Verbena originated from self-pollination made by the Inventor of the Verbena.times.hybrida cultivar Blue Princess, not patented. The cultivar Balwilblu was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Somerville in 1997. Plants of the new Verbena differs from plants of the cultivar Blue Princess and a sibling cultivar, Balwildaav (U.S. Plant Patent application filed concurrently with this application) primarily in flower color.
Asexual reproduction of the cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Somerville has shown that the unique features of this new Verbena are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.